Improvement in water-meters



2Sheets--Shet2. D. W. HUNTINGTON 8!. W. A. HEMPSTEAD.

Water-Meters. N0 157,472, Patented Dec. 8, 1874.

Wilkes ses j 57 THE GRAPHIC COJNOTO-I-IDLSBE 41 PARK PLACBN-fl I Ulvrrnn STATES PATENT OFFICE.

DAVID W. HUNTINGTON AND WILLIAM A. HEMPSTEAD, OF SOUTH COVENTRY, CONNECTICUT.

IMPROVEMENT IN WATER-METERS.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 157,472, dated December 8, 1874; application filed September 16, 18 74.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that we, DAVID W. HUNTING- TON and WILLIAM A. HEMPSTEAD, of South Coventry, in the county of Tolland and State of Connecticut, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Water-Meters; and we do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description thereof,' whereby a person skilled in the art can make and use the same, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, and to the letters of reference marked thereon.

Like letters in the figures indicate the same parts.

Our invention relates to that class of i'neters in which the flow of the fluid is measured by pistons moving in cylinders under the pressure of the ordinary head, which forces it through the pipes through which it is delivered for use.

It consists in a double-cylinder meter, in which each cylinder is furnished with a double piston and intermediate valve, which pistons and valves move alternately, as will be hereinafter described.

It also consists in the construction and an rangement of parts and devices, hereinafter shown.

In the accompanying drawings, 'on two sheets, Figure l is a top view of our improved meter. Fig. 2 is an end view of the same, withthe head removed from the cylinders. Fig. 3 is an interior view, with half the cylinders removed to show the pistons and valves. Fig. 4 is the same, with one of the pistons in a different position, and the top half of one of the valves removed to show it in section. Fig. 5 is a section, showing the construction of the joint through which motion is communicated to the register.

A and A are the two cylinders. a a and u a are the entrance-ports, one of which is always open in each cylinder to admit water between the two piston-heads during the movement of the piston in the opposite cylinder. 1) and b are the exit-ports, which are always under the annular groove of the valve. B and B are the doubleheaded pistons, connected by the piston-rods D D, so that they move together in each cylinder. The ends of these these ports.

piston-rods project, so that the piston-heads cannot quite reach the ends of the cylinders. d d are pins for operating the valve by pushing it to its proper position during the motion of the piston. O and G are the valves. They are, hollow cylinders through which the piston-rods D D pass, leaving a free space, as shown in the lower valve of Fig. 4:. The circumference of these valves fits the cylinders at the edges, but is provided with an annular groove, 0, which communicates with the exitports, and maintains an equal pressure all around the valve. Onthetops of thetwo cylinders A A are two pipes or channels, .E and F,

and on the bottom, under the cylinders, are two pipes or channels, G and H. These pipes are situated outside the cylinders, and are furnished at their ends with ports opening into the cylinders. The position of these pipes and ports is shown in Figs. 3 and 4. The ports f and g are operated by the valve 0, and the pipes F and G lead to the outer ends of the cylinder A, on the same side of the center as The ports 6 and h are operated by the valve 0, and the pipes E and H lead to the outer ends of the cylinder A, on the opposite sides of the center to these openings.

The operation of this part of our invention is as follows: In Fig.3, the piston B has just completed its stroke to the right The water from the entrance-pipe passes into the cylinder A through the port 66, and fills the space between the heads of the piston B, and, passing on through the port a, fills the space between the heads of the piston B. It stops passing through the open port 9 and pipe G, as the left-hand end of A is filled, and has pressed the piston B to the end of its stroke. It, however, passes through the open port It and the pipe H, entering the righthand end of the cylinder A, and causing the piston B to move to the left. This movement forces the contained water outfrbm the left-hand end of the cylinder A, through the pipeE and port 0, into the annular space around the valve 0, from which it passes into the outlet-pipe b. The piston B continues to move, and when the pins d d on the right-hand piston-head reach the valve O, they carry it along to the position shown in Fig. 4. This throws the port f outside the valve, and the port g within its annular groove. The water then enters the pipe F and passes to the right-hand end of the cylinder A, which presses the piston B to the left. This forces the water contained in the left-hand end of this cylinder out, through the pipe G and port g, into the annular space around the valve 0, from whence it passes through the aperture 1), around the outside of the valve 0, and out through the exit-pipe b.

When the piston B arrives near the end of its stroke it carries the valve 0 with it, in the manner described for the valve 0, and at the end of its movement both valves and pistons are at their extreme left-hand position, and in the same relative position to each other as they are to the right, in Fig. 3. The piston B then commences to move back, in the manner heretofore described, and the two pistons continue to move alternately, forcing the water out from between their ends and the ends of the cylinders, as heretofore described. It will be observed that the pressure is constant and uniform between the heads of the piston, and the valve floats in the liquid with a uniform pressure on all sides, so that it moves freely, with little or no friction or wear and also that the difference of pressure upon the inlet and outlet sides of the valves, and the inside and outside of the piston-heads, is only what is just necessary to move the machine,

so that even with a very free moving piston there is no tendency to leakage. One of the This is done by its striking a lever, i, (Fig. 5,) at the end of the cylinder, which turns the spindle is part of a revolution, and operates any ordinary recording mechanism connected with it.

In order to make a water-tight joint We use the following device: lis the bushing through which the spindle it passes. m is a rubber tube attached to this bushing, and also to a collar upon the spindle k. n n are rings inside the tube m, for the purpose of keeping it from being pressd inward, and give it a sufficient length to twist without becoming injured.

What we claim as our invention is 1. The floating balanced valve 0 or 0, constructed and operating substantially as and for the purpose herein described. I

2. A water-meter, in which there is a free continuous outlet, 0 b b, through the valves from the two cylinders, and a constant pressure between the heads of the double pistons B B, and in which the pressure is admitted alternately to the four ends of the cylinders outside the piston -heads by means of balanced valves moving back and forth with the pistons in the cylinders, so as to force the contained water out of the opposite ends, substantially in the manner herein described.

3. The combination of the cylinders A A, the double pistons B B, the valves 0 O, and the pipes E F G H, substantially as and for purpose herein described.

DAVID W. HUNTINGTON. WILLIAM A. HEMPSTEAD. Witnesses:

WENDELL R. CURTIs, THEo. G. ELLIs. 

